The article is devoted to the study of radiopacity of different MTA based materials using digital radiography. For investigation we have chosen the following MTA based materials: ProRoot MTA (Dentsply, USA), MTA Angelus Blanco (Solucoes Odontologicas, Londrina, Brazil), Biodentine (Septodont, France), MTA + (Cerkamed, Poland), Trioxident (VladMiVa, Russia), RootDent (Tehnodent, Russia), Restapex (Latus, Kharkiv, Ukraine). To assess radiopacity of selected filling materials we used conventional method developed by Tagger and Katz (2003). According to this method radiopacity of materials is investigated with the standard aluminum step wedge. We have prepared six transparent plastic plates (2.2 * 4.5 cm * 1 mm) containing eight holes of 1 mm in deep and 1.5 mm in diameter, this plates were placed on a glass. The investigated materials were mixed acording to the manufacturer’s instructions and then appropriate holes on each plate were filled with them. The excess material was removed, and the plates were left in a humid environment for 4 hours to complete materials setting. Then each plate along with standard aluminum step wedge (10 steps of 1 mm in height) was set on the X-ray sensor (Acteon sopix 2). The picture was made on the 70 kV, 8 mA. Exposure time was 0,17s (X-ray machine de Gotzen S.r.l. xgenus dc). In the software the color intensity in shades of gray scale from 0 to 255 were defined for each step of the wedge and research materials. In the program Microsoft Exel for each of the 6 repetitions was built a graph of the intensity of the color of each wedge step to its aluminum thickness and the logarithmic and power curve for convertion of gray scale value to equivalent mm of aluminum X-ray density was generated. Then results of optical dencity of each sample materials were converted to the mm of aluminum X-ray density. Statistical analysis was made by ANOVA test. The following radiological density of the studied materials was received: MTA + (Cerkamed, Poland) – 4,92 ± 0,46 mm Al, ProRoot MTA (Dentsply, USA) – 4,72 ± 0,39 mm Al, MTA Angelus Blanco (Solucoes Odontologicas , Londrina, Brazil) – 4,42 ± 0,52 mm Al, Restapex (Latus, Kharkov, Ukraine) – 4,20 ± 0,34 mm Al, Trioxident (VladMyVa, Russia) – 3,56 ± 0,34 mm Al, RootDent (Tehnodent, Russia) – 2,65 ± 0,34 mm Al, Biodentine (Septodont, France) – 1,98 ± 0,24 mm Al. This results shows that only next materials: MTA + Cerkamed, ProRoot MTA, MTA Angelus Blanco, Restapex and Trioxident correspond the international standards of the minimal radiopacity for endodontic cements above 3 mm of aluminum. The highest X-ray density showed MTA + Cerkamed, ProRoot MTA and MTA Angelus Blanco. There were no statistical deference between these materials (P>0,05). Other tested materials showed statistically lower X-ray density (P<0,05).
radiopacity, calcium silicate cements, mineral trioxide aggregate, Вiodentine, ProRoot MТА, MTA Angelus, Restapex, Trioxident, RootDent, MTA+
